Particularly disconcerting is the escalation of events after the coup. Countries such as France and the United States have already put a halt on foreign aid. West African leaders from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have warned the military junta of possible repercussions from the coup. Financial sanctions including a travel ban and the shutting down of its banks could lead to total isolation and plunge a country already plagued by poverty into pandemonium – and the first to suffer will be the population. The country, considered one of the poorest on the continent, depends on foreign aid for its very survival.

Coup leader Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo insisted that democracy will remain the focal point and that the international community should understand the soldiers’ grievances. But did he fully grasp the consequences of his actions? Was the coup the right strategy to end the ongoing Tuareg rebellion?

Sanogo’s reassurance that general elections will be held as scheduled is questionable. Shortly after the coup, the military junta changed the articles of the constitution giving more power to the military including the creation of a military committee with the power to elect the prime minister. A signal has thus been sent that military rule may not be as transitional as it appears, and that other issues are on the agenda. Moreover, the political turnaround sheds light on an a deeper reality overlooked by many: the autonomy of the Tuareg.

The Tuareg, a nomadic tribe, is known to have a distinct history which has for decades fought to gain the right to own land – perhaps even its own state. Obviously, the demarcation of African countries by European colonizers did not take tribal settlements into account, particularly those of nomadic tribes such as the Tuareg. The total Tuareg population in Niger is over one million, and around 900,000 in Mali with a small footprint in Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso.

Tuareg independent movements and insurrections surfaced in the late 1990s, especially in Niger and Mali. Although the integration of Tuaregs in the Mali Government did not completely settle the problem, additional progress was made after a long series of peace talks resulting in Tuareg self-government in the Kidal region, along with opportunities for Malian Tuaregs to join the government and the army. Nonetheless the Tuareg movement continues to escalate and according to UN reports over the last few months over 30,000 Malian refugees were forced to flee Kidal for their safety.

The increase in killings, seems to justify the demands of the soldiers. Yet the latter fail to understand that this is not a localized issue, and that neighboring countries such as Niger and Algeria must work hand-in-hand with them to tackle it. Worse still, the coup triggered the end of the peace agreements that were in place previously, leaving the rebels no longer bound in principle to refrain from claiming more territories. After seizing Kidal, Tuareg separatists Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA), with Islamist group Ansar Dine, have entered the city of Gao, from where they will most likely will continue the insurgency.

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